2003 Mitsubishi Evolution VIII

This 2003 Mitsubishi Evolution VIII is, without a doubt, the best sports
car I've ever owned regardless of its family car trunk, four doors and
ample backseat room.
It's so easy to drive fast it makes me look like the race car hero I am
not.
It's loud — aurally and visually — and fun.

Once upon a time I drove my
928 S4
at
Texas World Speedway
and I was hooked.
I replaced it with a cheaper
944 Turbo S
that I was going to turn into my track car and I bought a
Honda Insight
to be my daily driver.
Then we had our first child.
(As a result, I haven't spent as much garage-time with this one.)
I kept my two two-seaters for a year before admitting to the fact that
having only
one car
that could handle baby duty was impractical.
But the timing was perfect with the success of the Subaru WRX and
finally!
the Evo in the US.
I was stoked.
So I replaced my two coupes for one four-door.
It didn't hurt that the Evo was quicker.

Ever since what I consider my first car, the John Deere-yellow '61
Beetle my Dad had when I was a wee tot, I have wanted a yellow car.
With bright paint coming back in vogue, this one was finally my chance.
I bought it in 2004 after it sat on the dealer lot for a year.
Mitsubishi built way too many that first year so 2003 inventory piled up
into 2004.
All to my advantage.
A buddy of mine picked up the remaining yellow 2003 at the Austin Mitsu
dealer.
It also had the low wing on the trunk lid and I was sorry to miss it.
The other Evo on that lot was red so that was right out, forcing me
further afield.
The dealer in San Marcos, south of Austin, had two yellow Evos, both
with high wings.
One had just sold so I got the other.
I had all the advantages in the negotiation.
Countering some of the sales team's sly tactics, I delayed by calling my
buddy with the other yellow Evo.
He happened to be riding shotgun while another mutual friend was testing
it out on one of our favorite back roads.
He confirmed his own great selling price and we yucked it up a bit to
kill time.
I even got an excellent trade on my
Insight.
All told, I managed to deal down to $24K before tax and fees for a $32K
car that had a mere 349 miles on it.
I swore I would never get another deal like it.

I'm confident that if I just had an empty garage bay I would have kept
it forever.
The on-off aftermarket clutch
was not fun in stop-n-go traffic of the daily commute up long, 10% grade
hills.
And the fuel economy wasn't great with the big injectors, cams and
turbo.
And the noise noise noise.
Granted, I
volunteered
for those problems,
but it was so wonderful when I could open it up that I definitely wanted
to keep it for the weekends.
Alas….
I hated keeping it outside when the
Corvair
arrived and so did the paint on the back bumper and the clear coat on
the wing.
And the
Golf
is so good it seemed I hardly ever drove it anymore.

And it was my eldest child's favorite car.
When I'd hit the throttle for a mild power burst or zip around a
corner a bit faster than necessary I could count on squeals from the
backseat of, "Yellow car!"
It was her first (yellow) car too.
She was a too-cool-for-Dad teen by the time I sold it, but I think I
broke her heart a little when I did.